Hachi-Ko

Born in Honshu Island's Akita Prefecture, from which the Akita(or Akita Inu) breed draws its name, a young purebred Akita won the affection a Mr. Kurita, a former agriculture student at Tokyo Imperial University. Like many agricultural students of the day, Kurita had been influenced greatly by a professor named Eizaburo Ueno. Recalling his former professor's affection for Akitas, Kurita bought the four month-old pup and sent him to his teacher in January of 1924.

Affection between the professor and the dog was immediate. The professor named the pup "Hachi" and added "ko", common term of endearment. For his part, Hachi-ko accompanied the professor everywhere he could. As he grew, Hachi-ko took on the traditional traits of an Akita: his ears stood upright, and his tail curled up and to the left. Professor Ueno reportedly took great pride in owning a purebred dog from a breed that had a history going back thirty centuries — especially as the number of purebred Akitas in Japan was dwindling at the time.

Professor Ueno lived in a well-to-do residential area of Tokyo. He enjoyed his morning walks to Shibuya Station, where he caught his train to the university every day. Hachi-ko joined the professor each morning, trotting along to the station, then returning home for the day. At 4pm, when the train arrived bringing the returning professor, Hachi-ko would be on the platform to welcome his master and walk home with him.

A year and a half into their routine, on a bright May day in 1925, Hachi-ko made his usual journey to the station to meet the professor at four o'clock. When the train stopping, it discharged its passengers, but Hachi-ko saw no sign of his beloved professor. That day, Mr. Ueno had suffered a stroke and died in laboratory at the university. He would never descend from the train again.

Hachi-ko searched the crowd for his master. Eventually the distraught dog went home. Each day he returned to the station to meet the morning and evening trains, but never found his master. Mrs. Ueno closed the house and moved, giving Hachi-ko to some of her husband's relatives who lived several miles from the station. The Akita refused to stay with them. As soon as he was let out, he trotted back first to his old house, then to the train station to await his master.

Professor Ueno's gardener, Kikuzaburo Kobayashi, lived close to the station and took over Hachi-ko's care. From the gardener's home, the dog began a regular routine of walking to the train station in the morning and then to his master's former home for the day. At four o'clock he was waiting on the platform to meet the afternoon train. As time passed, Hachi-ko stopped going to his master's home but continued to go to the station every time he was untied.

In the first years of his vigil, Hachi-ko was treated as little more than a tolerable nuisance at the train station. In 1928, a new station master came to Shibuya Station. He quickly grew very fond of Hachi-ko and allowed him free run of the facility. Hachi-ko still kept his schedule, but also was allowed to remain in the station through the day, sleeping in a storeroom set aside for him by the new stationmaster.

That same year, another of Professor Ueno's former students, who had become something of an expert on Akitas, saw the dog at the station and followed him to the Kobayashi home, where he learned the history of Hachi-ko's life. Shortly after this meeting, the former student published a documented census of Akitas in Japan. His research found only thirty purebred Akitas remaining, including the dog at Shibuya station.

Professor Ueno's former student returned frequently to visit the dog and over the years published several articles about Hachi-ko's remarkable loyalty. In 1932 one of these articles, published in Tokyo's largest newspaper, threw the dog into the national spotlight. Hachi-ko became a sensation throughout the land. His faithfulness to his master's memory impressed the people of Japan as a spirit of family loyalty all should strive to achieve. Teachers and parents used Hachi-ko's vigil as an example for children to follow. A well-known Japanese artist rendered a sculpture of the dog, and throughout the country a new awareness of the Akita breed grew.

In 1934, through the efforts of the former student, the station master, and the artist, a statue of Hachi-ko was commissioned. Efforts began to raise money for the statue, and the majority of contributions came from school children. Dignitaries unveiled the statue in front of the station in April of 1934 in a grand ceremony that included bouquets of flowers, speeches, and Hachi-ko himself looking on.

For all his fame, the dog continued his watch at the station. Growing older, he seldom ventured from the building, only occasionally walking to the Kobayashi home for a meal. One day in March of 1935, people at the station missed seeing Hachi-ko at his usual hangouts. A quickly organised search found him lying prone in a lane nearby. None of the veterinarians from the university who cared for him over the years could save the dog. He was taken back to his own bed in the station, where he died later in the day. His skin and skeleton were preserved, and friends buried Hachi-ko's other remains near his master's grave.

The legend of Hachi-ko's nine-year vigil goes on. The bronze statue of Hachi-ko was melted down for metal during World War II, but after the war a new statue was made and placed on its pedestal outside the station. Today the statue remains an important symbol to the Japanese. It has become a tradition for friends and lovers to meet there, possibly hoping that some of Hachi-ko's undying loyalty will rub off on them.